Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Florence Scovel
Shinn
Contents
1. The Secret Door to Success
14. The Inner Meaning of Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs
Chapter 1
The Secret Door to Success
"So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets;
and it came to pass,
when the people heard the sound of the trumpet,
and the people shouted with a great shout,
that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city,
every man straight before him, and they took the city." ~ Joshua 6:20
A successful man is always asked - "What is the secret of your success?"
People never ask a man who is a failure, "What is the secret of your failure?" It
is quite easy to see and they are not interested.
People all want to know how to open the secret door to success.
For each man there is success, but it seems to be behind a door or wall. In the
Bible reading, we have heard the wonderful story of the falling of the walls of
Jericho.
Of course all biblical stories have a metaphysical interpretation.
We will talk now about your wall of Jericho: the wall separating you from
success. Nearly everyone has built a wall around his own Jericho.
This city you are not able to enter, contains great treasures; your divinely
designed success, your heart's desire!
What kind of wall have you built around your Jericho? Often, it is a wall of
resentment - resenting someone, or resenting a situation, shuts off your good.
If you are a failure and resent the success of someone else, you are keeping
away your own success.
I have given the following statement to neutralize envy and resentment.
What God has done for others, He now does for me and more.
A woman was filled with envy because a friend had received a gift, she made
this statement, and an exact duplicate of the gift was given her - plus another
present.
It was when the children of Israel shouted, that the walls of Jericho fell down.
When you make an affirmation of Truth, your wall of Jericho totters.
I gave the following statement to a woman: The walls of lack and delay now
crumble away, and I enter my Promised Land, under grace. She had a vivid
picture of stepping over a fallen wall, and received the demonstration of her
good, almost immediately.
It is the word of realization which brings about a change in your affairs; for
words and thoughts are a form of radio-activity.
Taking an interest in your work, enjoying what you are doing opens the secret
door of success.
A number of years ago I went to California to speak at the different centers, by
way of the Panama Canal, and on the boat I met a man named Jim Tully.
For years he had been a tramp. He called himself The King of the Hoboes.
He was ambitious and picked up an education.
He had a vivid imagination and commenced writing stories about his
experiences.
He dramatized tramp life, he enjoyed what he was doing, and became a very
successful author. I remember one book called "Outside Looking In." It was
made into a motion picture
He is now famous and prosperous and lives in Hollywood. What opened the
secret door to success for Jim Tully?
Dramatizing his life - being interested in what he was doing, he made the most
of being a tramp. On the boat, we all sat at the captain's table, which gave us
a chance to talk.
Mrs. Grace Stone was also a passenger on the boat; she had written the "Bitter
Tea of General Yen," and was going to Hollywood to have it made into a
moving-picture; she had lived in China and was inspired to write the book.
That is the Secret of Success, to make what you are doing interesting to other
people. Be interested yourself, and others will find you interesting.
A good disposition, a smile, often opens the secret door; the Chinese say, "A
man without a smiling face, must not open a shop."
The success of a smile was brought out in a French moving-picture in which
Chevalier took the lead, the picture was called, "With a Smile." One of the
characters had become poor, dreary and almost a derelict; He said to Chevalier
"What good has my honesty done me?" Chevalier replied, "Even honesty won't
help you, without a smile." So the man changes on the spot, cheers up, and
becomes very successful.
Living in the past, complaining of your misfortunes, builds a thick wall around
your Jericho.
Talking too much about your affairs, scattering your forces, brings you up
against a high wall. I knew a man of brains and ability, who was a complete
failure.
He lived with his mother and aunt, and I found that every night when he went
home to dinner, he told them all that had taken place during the day at the
office; he discussed his hopes, his fears, and his failures.
I said to him, "You scatter your forces by talking about your affairs. Don't
discuss your business with your family. Silence is golden!"
He took my lead. During dinner he refused to talk about business. His mother
and aunt were in despair. They loved to hear all about everything, but his
silence proved golden!
Not long after, he was given a position at one hundred dollars a week, and in a
few years, he had a salary of three hundred dollars a week.
Success is not a secret, it is a System.
Many people are up against the wall of discouragement. Courage and
endurance are part of the system. We read this in lives of all successful men
and women.
I had an amusing experience which brought this to my notice. I went to a
moving picture theatre to meet a friend.
While waiting, I stood near a young boy, selling programs.
He called to people passing, "Buy a complete program of the picture,
containing photographs of the actors and a sketch of their lives."
Most people passed by without buying. To my great surprise, he suddenly
turned to me, and said - "Say, this ain't no racket for a guy with ambition!"
Then he gave a discourse on success. He said, "Most people give up just before
something big is coming to them. A successful man never gives up."
Of course I was interested and said, "I'll bring you a book the next time I
come. It is called The Game of Life and How to Play It. You will agree with a lot
of the ideas."
A week or two later I went back with the book.
The girl at the ticket office said to him - "Let me read it, Eddie, while you are
selling programs." The man who took tickets leaned over to see what it was
about.
"The Game of Life" always gets people's interests.
I returned to the theatre in about three weeks, Eddie had gone. He had
expanded into a new job that he liked. His wall of Jericho had crumbled, he
had refused to be discouraged.
Only twice, is the word success mentioned in the Bible - both times in the Book
of Joshua.
"Only be strong and very courageous to observe to do according to all the law
which Moses, my servant, commanded thee: turn not from it to the right nor to
the left, that thou mayest have good success whithersoever thou goest. This
book of the law shall not depart from thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate
therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do all that is written
therein, for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous and thou shalt have good
success. Turn not to the right nor to the left."
The road to success is a straight and narrow path; it is a road of loving
Chapter 2
Bricks Without Straw
"There shall no straw be given you, yet ye shall make bricks without straw."
~ Exodus 5:18
In the 5th chapter of Exodus, we have a picture of every day life, when giving
a metaphysical interpretation.
The Children of Israel were in bondage to Pharaoh, the cruel taskmaster, ruler
of Egypt. They were kept in slavery, making bricks, and were hated and
despised.
Moses had orders from the Lord to deliver his people from bondage - "Moses
and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh - Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my
people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness."
He not only refused to let them go, but told them he would make their tasks
even more difficult: they must make bricks without straw being provided for
them.
"And the task-masters of the people went out, and their officers, and they
spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw."
"Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be
diminished."
It was impossible to make bricks without straw. The Children of Israel were
completely crushed by Pharaoh, they were beaten for not producing the bricks
- Then came the message from Jehovah.
"Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall
ye deliver the tale (number) of bricks."
Working with Spiritual law they could make bricks without straw, which means
to accomplish the seemingly impossible.
How often in life people are confronted with this situation.
Agnes M. Lawson in her "Hints to Bible Students" says - "The Life in Egypt
under foreign oppression is the symbol of man under the hard taskmasters of
Destructive thinking, Pride, Fear, Resentment, Ill-will, etc. The deliverance
under Moses is the freedom man gains from the taskmasters, as he learns the
law of life, for we can never come under grace, except we first know the law.
The law must be made known in order to be fulfilled."
In the 111th Psalm we read in the final verse, "The fear of the Lord (law) is the
beginning of Wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his
commandments: his praise endureth forever."
Now if we read the word Lord (law) it will give us the key to the statement.
The fear of the law (Karmic law) is the beginning of wisdom (not the fear of the
Lord).
When we know the whatever we send out comes back, we begin to be afraid of
our own boomerangs.
I read in a medical journal the following facts telling of the Boomerang this
great Pharaoh received.
It would appear that flesh is indeed heir to a long and ancient line of ills, when,
as was revealed by Lord Monyahan at a lecture at Leeds, that the Pharaoh of
the oppression suffered from hardening of the heart in a literal sense. Lord
Monyahan showed some remarkable photographic slides of results of surgical
operations a thousand years before Christ, and among these was a slide of the
actual anatomical remains of the Pharaoh of the Oppression.
"The large vessel springing from the heart was in such a well-preserved state,
as to enable sections of it to be made recently from the lantern slide. It was
impossible to distinguish between the ancient and modern vessel. Both hearts
had been attacked by Atheroma, a condition in which calcium salts are
deposited in the walls of the vessel, making it rigid and inelastic."
Inadequate expanse to the stream of blood from the heart caused the vessel to
give way; with this condition went the mental changes that occur with a rigid
arterial system: A narrowness of outlook; restriction and dread of enterprise, a
literal hardening of the heart.
So Pharaoh's hardness of heart, hardened his own heart.
This is as true today as it was several thousand years ago - we are all coming
out of the Land of Egypt, out of the House of Bondage.
Your doubts and fears keep you in slavery; you face a situation which seems
hopeless. What can you do? It is a case of making bricks without straw.
But remember the words of Jehovah, "Go therefore now, and work; for there
shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale (number) of bricks."
You shall make bricks without straw. God makes a way where there is no way!
I was told the story of a woman who needed money for her rent. It was
necessary to have it at once, but she knew of no channel, she exhausted every
avenue.
However, she was a Truth student, and kept making her affirmations.
Her dog whined and wanted to go out, she put on his leash and walked down
the street, in the accustomed direction.
However, the dog pulled at his leash and wanted to go in another direction.
She followed, and in the middle of the block, opposite an open park, she
looked down, and picked up a roll of bills, which exactly covered rent.
She looked for ads, but never found the owner. There were no houses near
homes.
My friend's father called all these things "plunder." He would say, "Don't bring
home any plunder.
So she lived a colorless life without a "Winged Victory" on her bureau or
"Whistler's Mother on the wall.
He would say often to my friend and her mother, "When I die, you'll both be
well off."
One day someone said to Lettie, "When are you going abroad?" (all art
students went abroad.)
She replied, cheerfully, "Not 'till Papa dies."
So people always look forward to being free from lack and oppression.
Let us now free ourselves from the tyrants of negative thinking. We have been
slaves to doubts, fears and apprehension and let us be delivered as Moses
delivered the Children of Israel and come out of the Land of Egypt, out of the
House of Bondage.
Find the thought which is your great oppressor; find the "king-pin".
In the logging camps in the Spring, the logs are sent down the rivers in great
numbers.
Sometimes the logs become crossed and cause a jam. The men look for the
log causing the jam (they call it the king-pin), straighten it, and the logs rush
down the river again.
Maybe your King-Pin is resentment. Resentment holds back your good.
The more you resent, the more you will have to resent; you grow a resentment
track in your brain, and your expression will be one of habitual resentment.
You will be avoided and miss the golden opportunities which await you each
day.
I remember a few years ago, the streets were filled with men selling apples.
They got up early to get the good corners.
I passed one several times on Park Avenue. He had the most disagreeable
expression I have ever seen.
As people passed he said, "Apples! Apples!" but no one stopped to buy.
I invested in an apple and said, "You'll never sell apples unless you change
your expression."
He replied, "Well that guy over there took my corner."
I said, "Never mind about the corner, you can sell apples right here if you'll
look pleasant."
He said, "O.K. lady," and I went on. The next day I saw him, his whole
expression had changed. He was doing a big business selling apples with a
smile.
So find your king-pin (you may have more than one); and your logs of
success, happiness and abundance will go rushing down your river.
"Go therefore now and work,
for there shall no straw be given you,
yet ye shall make bricks without straw."
Chapter 3
“And Five of Them Were Wise”
This brings a vivid picture to mind: You are drawing on the bank of the
imagination.
A woman who did not have much money was afraid to pay any bills and see
her bank account dwindle. It came to her with great conviction: "I have the
magic purse of the spirit. It can never be depleted. As money goes out,
immediately, money comes in." She fearlessly paid her bills, and several large
cheques came to her that she did not expect.
"Watch and pray lest ye enter into the temptation" of preparing for something
destructive instead of something constructive.
I knew a woman who told me she always kept a long crepe veil handy in case
of funerals. I said to her, "You are a menace to your relatives, and are
preparing to hurry them all off, so that you can wear the veil." She destroyed
it.
Another woman who had no money decided to send her two daughters to
college. Her husband scorned the idea and said, "Who will pay their tuition? I
have no money for it." She replied, "I know some unforeseen good will come to
us." She kept on preparing her daughters for college. Her husband laughed
heartily and told all their friends that his wife was sending the girls to college
on "some unforeseen good." A rich relative suddenly sent her a large sum of
money. "Some unforeseen good" did arrive, for she had shown active faith. I
asked what she had said to her husband when the cheque arrived. She replied,
"Oh, I never antagonize George by telling him I am in the right."
So prepare for your "unforeseen good." Let every thought and every act
express your unwavering faith.
Every event in your life is a crystallized idea.
Something you have invited through either fear or faith. Something you have
prepared for.
So let us be wise and bring oil for our lamps - and when we least expect it, we
shall reap the fruits of our faith.
My lamps are now filled with the oil of faith and fulfillment.
Chapter 4
What Do You Expect?
Get in their vibration: I sometimes hear people say; "I don't go into the shops
because I can't afford to buy anything." That is just the reason why you should
go into the shops. Begin to make friends with the things you desire or require.
I know a woman who wanted a ring. She went boldly to the ring department
and tried on rings.
It gave her such a realization of ownership, that not long after, a friend made
her a gift of a ring. "You combine with what you notice."
Keep on noticing beautiful things, and you make an invisible contact. Sooner or
later these things are drawn into your life, unless you say, "Poor me, too good
to be true."
"My soul, wait thou only upon God: for my expectation is from Him." This is a
most important statement from the 62nd Psalm.
The soul is the subconscious mind, and the psalmist was telling his
subconscious to expect everything directly from the universal; not to depend
upon doors and channels; "My expectations is from Him."
God cannot fail, for "His ways are ingenious, His methods are sure."
You can expect any seemingly impossible Good from God; if you do not limit
the channels.
Do not say how you want it done, or how it can't be done.
"God is the Giver and the Gift and creates His own amazing channels."
Take the following statement: I cannot be separated from God the Giver,
therefore, I cannot be separated from God the Gift. The gift is God in action.
Get the realization that every blessing is Good in
action, and see God in every face and good in every situation. This makes you
master of all conditions.
A woman came to me saying that there was no heat in the radiators in their
apartment, and that her mother was suffering from the cold. She added, "The
landlord has declared that we can't have heat until a certain date." I replied,
"God is your landlord." She said, "That's all I want to know," and rushed out.
That evening the heat was turned on without asking. It was because she
realized that the landlord was God in manifestation.
This is a wonderful age, for people are becoming Miracle Minded; it is in the air.
Quoting from an article which I found in the New York Journal and American by
John Anderson, it corroborates what I have just said.
The title of the article is "Theatre Goers Make Hits of Metaphysical Plays."
If, said the cynical manager, who shall be called Brock Pemberton, with a slight
accent of sarcasm in his voice, the other night, on an intermission curbside
talk, you fellows meaning the critics, know so much about what the New York
public wants, why don't you tell me what to produce?
Why don't you tell me what sort of play the play-goers want to see?" "I would,"
I said, "But you wouldn't believe it."
"You're hedging," he said, "You don't know, and you're trying to cover up by
pretending to know more than you're willing to say. You haven't any more idea
than I have this minute what sort of plays generally succeed."
"I have," I said, "there is one sure fire success; one theme that works and has
always worked, whether it is competing with boy meets girl, mysteries,
historical tragedies, etc., no play on the theme has ever completely failed if it
had nay merit at all, and a lot of poor ones have been big hits."
"You're stalling again," said Mr. Pemberton, "What sort of plays are they?"
"Metaphysical," I said, fouling slightly with a big word and waiting quietly for
Chapter 5
The Long Arm of God
"The Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms."
~ Deut. 33:27
In the bible, the arm of God always symbolizes protection. The writers of the
bible knew the power of a symbol. It brings a picture which impresses the
subconscious mind. They used the symbols of the rock, sheep, shepherds,
vineyard, lamp, and hundreds of others. It would be interesting to know how
many symbols are used in the bible. The arm also symbolizes strength.
"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms, and
he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee and shall say, Destroy them."
Who is the enemy "before thee"? The negative thought-forms which you have
built up in your subconscious mind. A man's enemies are only those of his own
household. The everlasting arms thrust out these enemy thoughts and destroy
them.
Have you ever felt the relief of getting out some negative thought-form?
Perhaps you have built up a thought-form of resentment, until you are always
boiling with anger about something. You resent people you know, people you
don't know, people in the past and people in the present, and you may be sure
that the people in the future won't escape your wrath.
All the organs of the body are affected by resentment - for when you resent,
you resent with every organ of the body. You pay the penalty with rheumatism,
arthritis, neuritis, etc., for acid thoughts produce acid in the blood. All this
trouble comes because you are fighting the battle, not leaving it to the long
arm of God.
I have given the following statement to many of my students. "The long arm of
God reaches out over people and conditions, controlling this situation and
protecting my interests.
This brings a picture of a long arm symbolizing strength and protection. With
the realization of the power of the long arm of God, you would no longer resist
or resent. You would relax and let go. The enemy thoughts within you would be
destroyed, therefore, the adverse conditions would disappear.
Spiritual development means the ability to stand still, or stand aside, and let
Infinite Intelligence lift your burdens and fight your battles. When the burden
of resentment is lifted, you experience a sense of relief! You have a kindly
feeling for everyone, and all the organs of your body begin to function
properly.
A clipping quoting Albert Edward Day, D.D. reads, "That loving our enemies is
good for our spiritual health is widely known and accepted. But that negation
and poisonous emotions destroy physical health, is a relatively new discovery.
The problem of health is often an emotional one. Wrong emotions entertained
and repeated are potent causes of illness. When the preacher talks about
loving your enemies, the man on the street is apt to dismiss the idea as
unendurable and pious. But the fact is, the preacher is telling you something
which is one of the first laws of hygiene, as well as ethics. No man even for his
body's sake can afford to indulge in hatred. It is like repeated doses of poison.
When you are urged to get rid of fear, you are not listening to a moon-struck
idealist; rather you are hearing counsel that is as significant for health as
advice about diet."
We hear so much about a balanced diet, but without a balanced mind you can't
digest what you eat, calories or no calories.
Non-resistance is an art. When acquired, The World is Yours! So many people
are trying to force situations. Your lasting good will never comes through
forcing personal will.
"Flee from the things which flee from thee,
Seek nothing, fortune seeketh thee.
Behold his shadow on the floor!
Behold him standing at the door!"
I do not know the author of these lines.
Lovelock, the celebrated English athlete, was asked how to attain his speed
and endurance in running. He replied, "Learn to relax." Let us attain this rest in
action. He was most relaxed when running the fastest.
Your big opportunity and big success usually slide in, when you least expect it.
You have to let go long enough for the great law of attraction to operate. You
never saw a worried and anxious magnet. It stands up straight and hasn't a
care in the world, because it knows needles can't help jumping to it. The things
we rightly desire come to pass when we have taken the clutch off.
I say in my correspondence course, Do not let your heart's desire become your
heart's disease."
You are completely demagnetized when you desire something too intensely.
You worry, fear, and agonize. There is an occult law of indifference - "None of
these things move me." Your ships come in over a don't care sea.
Many people in Truth antagonize friends, because they are too anxious for
them to read the books and go to the lectures. The meet opposition.
A friend took my book, "The Game of Life and How to Play It" to her brother's
house to read. The young men of the family refused to read it. No "nut stuff"
for them. One of these young men drives a taxi cab. One night he drove a taxi
which belonged to another man. In going over the car he found a book stuffed
away somewhere. It was "The Game of Life and How to Play It". The next day
he said to his aunt, "I found Mrs. Shinn's book in the taxi last night. I read it
and it's great! There's a lot of good reading in it. Why doesn't she write
another book?" God works in roundabout ways, his wonders to perform.
I meet unhappy people and a few grateful and contented people. A man said to
me one day, "I have a great deal to be thankful for. I have good health,
enough money and I'm still single!"
The eighty-ninth psalm is very interesting, for we find that two individuals take
part, the man who sings the psalm (for all psalms are songs or poems), and
Lord God of Hosts answers him. It is a song of praise and thanksgiving,
extolling the strong arm of God.
"I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever!"
"O Lord God of Hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee?"
"Thou hast a mighty arm, strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand."
Then the Lord of Hosts replies:
"With whom my hand shall be established, mine arm also shall strengthen
him."
"My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast
with him."
We only hear the words "for evermore" in the bible and in fairy-tales. In the
absolute, man is outside of time and space. His good is "from everlasting to
everlasting." The fairy-tales came down from the old Persian legends which
were founded upon Truth.
Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp is the out-picturing of the Word. Aladdin
rubbed the lamp and all his desires came to pass. Your word is your lamp.
Words and thoughts are a form of radio activity and do not return void. A
scientist has said that words are clothed in light. You are continually reaping
the fruits of your words.
A friend in one of my meeting said that she had brought a man to my class
who had been out of work for a year or more. I gave the statement: "Now is
the appointed time. Today is the day of my amazing good fortune." It clicked in
his consciousness. Soon after, he was given a position which paid him nine
thousand dollars a year!
A woman told me that when I blessed the offering I said that each offering
would return a thousand fold. She had put a dollar in the collection. She said
with great realization, "That dollar is blessed and returns a thousand dollars."
She received a thousand dollars a short time afterwards, in a most unexpected
way.
Why do some people demonstrate this Truth so much more quickly than
others? It is because they have the ears that hear. Jesus Christ tells the
parable of the man who sowed the seed and it fell upon good ground. The seed
is the word. I say, "Listen for the statement that clicks; the statement that
gives your realization. That statement will bear fruit."
The other day I went into a shop where I know the employer quite well. I had
given one of his employees an affirmation card. I said to him, jokingly, "I
wouldn't waste an affirmation card on you. You wouldn't use it." He replied,
"Oh sure, give me one. I'll use it." The following week I gave him a card.
Before I left he rushed up to me excitedly and said, "I made the statement and
two new customers walked in." It was: "Now is the appointed time; today is
the day of my amazing good fortune." It had clicked.
So many people use their words in exaggerated and reckless statements. I find
a great deal of material for my talks in the beauty parlor. A young girl wanted a
magazine to read. She called to the operator, "Give me something terribly new
and frightfully exciting." All she wanted was the latest moving picture
magazine. You hear people say, "I wish something terribly exciting would
happen." They are inviting some unhappy, but exciting, experience into their
lives. Then they wonder why it happened to them.
There should be a chair of metaphysics in all colleges. Metaphysics is the
wisdom of the ages. It is the ancient wisdom taught all through the centuries
in India and Egypt and Greece. Hermes Trismegistus was a great teacher of
Egypt. His teachings were closely guarded and have come down to us over ten
centuries. He lived in Egypt in the days when the present race of men was in
its infancy. But if you read the "Kybalion" carefully, you find that he taught just
what we are teaching today. He said that all mental states were accompanied
by vibrations. You combine with what you vibrate to, so let us all now vibrate
to success, happiness and abundance.
Now is the appointed time.
Today is the day of my amazing good fortune.
Chapter 6
The Fork in the Road
the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: "turn not from it to the
right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest."
So we find we have success through being strong and very courageous in
following spiritual law. We are back again to the "fork in the road" - the
necessity of choice.
"Choose you this day whom ye shall serve," the intellect or divine guidance.
A well-known man, who has become a great power in the financial world, said
to a friend, "I always follow intuition and I am luck incarnate."
Inspiration (which is divine guidance) is the most important thing in life. People
come to Truth meetings for inspiration. I find the right word will start divine
activity operating in their affairs.
A woman came to me with a complication of affairs. I said to her, "Let God
juggle the situation." It clicked. She took the affirmation, "I now let God juggle
this situation." Almost immediately she rented a house, which had been vacant
for a long time.
Let God juggle every situation, for when you try to juggle the situation, you
drop all the balls.
In my question and answer classes, I would be asked, "how do you let God
juggle a situation, and what do you mean when you say I should not juggle it?"
You juggle with the intellect. The intellect would say, "Times are hard, no
activity in real estate. Don't expect anything until the Fall of 1958."
With spiritual law there is only the now. Before you call you are answered, for
"time and space are but a dream," and your blessing is there waiting for you to
release it by faith and the word.
"Choose you this day whom ye will serve," fear or faith.
In every act prompted by fear lies the germ of its own defeat.
It takes much strength and courage to trust God. We often trust him in little
things, but when it comes to a big situation we feel we had better attend to it
ourselves; then comes defeat and failure.
The following extract from a letter which I received from a woman in the West
shows how conditions can change in the twinkling of an eye.
"I've had the pleasure of reading your wonderful book, 'The Game of Life and
How to Play It.' I have four boys, ten, thirteen, fifteen and seventeen, and
thought how wonderful for them to grasp it, in their early life, and be able to
get things which are theirs by Divine Right.
"The lady who let me read her copy gave me other things to read, but it
seemed when I picked this book up it was magnetic and I could not let go of it.
After reading it I realized, I was trying to live Divinely but did not understand
the law, or I would have been much further advanced.
"At first I thought it quite hard to find a place in the business world, after so
many years of being a mother. But I got this statement, 'God makes a way
where there is no way.' And He did that very thing for me.
"I am grateful for my position, and smile when people say, 'How do you do it,
manage four growing boys, a home, after all the times you have been
hospitalized with such major operations and none of your relatives near you?'"
I have that statement in my book, "God makes a way where there is no way."
God made a way for her in business when all her friends said it couldn't be
done.
The average person will tell you almost anything can't be done.
I had an example of this the other day. In a shop I found a delightful little
silver dripolator which would make just one cup of anything. I showed it to
some of friends with enthusiasm, thinking it so very cute, and one said, "It will
never work." The other said, "If it belonged to me, I'd throw it away." I stood
up for the little dripolator and said I knew it would work, which it did.
My friends were simply typical of the average person who says, "It can't be
done."
All big ideas meet with opposition.
Do not let other people rock your boat.
Follow the path of wisdom and understanding, "and turn not from it to the
right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest."
In the thirteenth verse of the twenty-fourth chapter of Joshua, we read a
remarkable statement: "And I have given you a land for which ye did not
labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards
and olive yards which ye planted not, do ye eat."
This shows that man cannot earn anything, his blessings come as gifts. (Gifts
lest any man shall boast.)
With the realization of wealth, we receive the gift of wealth.
With the realization of success, we receive the gift of success, for success and
abundance are states of mind.
"For it is the Lord our God, he it is, that brought us up, and our fathers out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."
The land of Egypt stands for darkness - the house of bondage, where man is a
slave to his doubts and fears, and beliefs in lack and limitation, the result of
having followed the wrong fork in the road.
Misfortune is due to failure to stick to the things which spirit has revealed
through intuition.
All big things have been accomplished by men who stuck to their big ideas.
Henry Ford was past middle age when the idea of the Ford car came to him. He
had great difficulty in raising the money. His friends thought it was a crazy
idea. His father said to him, tearfully, "Henry, why do you give up a good
twenty-five dollar a week job in order to chase a crazy idea?" But no one could
rock Henry Ford's boat.
So in order to come out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of bondage, we
must make the right decisions.
Follow the right fork in the road. "Only be thou strong and very courageous,
that thou mayest observe to do according to the law, which Moses my servant
commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand nor to the left, that thou
mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest."
So, as we reach the fork in the road today, let us fearlessly follow the voice of
intuition.
The bible calls it "the still small voice."
"There came a voice behind me, saying, 'This is the way, walk ye in it'."
On this path is the good, already prepared for you.
You will find the "land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not,
and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and olive yards which ye planted not,
do ye eat."
I am divinely led,
I follow the right fork in the road.
God makes a way where there is no way.
Chapter 7
Crossing Your Read Sea
"Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward." ~ Ex. 14:15
One of the most dramatic stories in the bible is the episode of the children of
Israel crossing the Red Sea.
Moses was leading them out of the land of Egypt where they were kept in
bondage and slavery. They were being pursued by the Egyptians.
The children of Israel, like most people, did not enjoy trusting God; they did a
lot of murmuring. They said to Moses: "Is not this the word that we did tell
thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it
had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the
wilderness."
"And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation
of the lord, which he will show to you today, for the Egyptians whom ye have
seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever."
"The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace."
We might say that Moses pounded faith into the children of Israel.
They preferred being slaves to their old doubts and fears (for Egypt stands for
darkness), than to take the giant swing into faith, and pass through the
wilderness to their Promised Land.
There is, indeed, a wilderness to pass through before your Promised Land is
reached.
The old doubts and fears encamp round about you, but, there is always
someone to tell you to go
forward! There is always a Moses on your pathway. Sometimes it is a friend,
sometimes intuition!
"And the Lord said to Moses, Wherefore cryest though unto me? Speak unto
the children of Israel, that they go forward!"
"But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it;
and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea."
"And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea
to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and
the waters were divided."
"And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground,
and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left."
"And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea,
even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen."
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the
waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon
their horsemen."
"And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned; and
the Egyptians fled against it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the
midst of the sea."
"And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all
the hosts of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so
much as one of them."
Now remember, the bible is talking about the individual. It is talking about
your wilderness, your Red Sea, and your Promised Land.
Each one of you has a Promised Land, a heart's desire, but you have been so
enslaved by the Egyptians (your negative thoughts), it seems very far away,
and too good to be true. You consider trusting God a very risky proposition.
The wilderness might prove worse than the Egyptians.
And how do you know your Promised Land really exists?
The reasoning mind will always back up the Egyptians.
But sooner or later, something says, "Go forward!" It is usually circumstances -
you are driven to it.
I give the example of a student.
She is a very marvelous pianist and had great success abroad. She came back
with a book full of press clippings, and a happy heart.
A relative took an interest in her and said she would back her financially for a
concert tour. They chose a manager who took charge of the expenses, and
attended to her bookings.
After a concert or two, there were no more funds. The manager had taken
them. My friend was left stranded, desolate and disappointed. This was about
the time that she came to me.
She hated the man, and it was making her ill. She had very little money and
could afford only a cheerless room where her hands were often too cold to
practice.
She was indeed, in bondage to the Egyptians - hate, resentment, lack and
limitation.
Someone brought her to one of my meetings, and she spoke to me and told
her story.
I said, "In the first place you must stop hating that man. When you are able to
forgive him, your success will come back to you. You are taking your initiation
in forgiveness."
It seemed a pretty big order, but she tried and came regularly to all my
meetings.
In the meantime, the relative had started a suit to recover the money. Time
went on and it never came to court.
My friend had a call to go to California. She was no longer disturbed by the
situation, and had forgiven the man.
Suddenly, after about four years, she was notified that the case had come to
court. She called me upon her arrival in New York, and asked me to speak the
word for rightness and justice.
They went at the time appointed, and it was all settled out of court, the man
restoring the money by monthly payments.
She came to me overflowing with joy, for she said, "I hadn't the least
resentment toward the man. He was amazed when I greeted him cordially."
Her relative said that all the money was to go to her, so she found herself with
a big bank account.
Now she will soon reach her Promised Land. She came out of the house of
bondage (of hate and resentment) and crossed her Red Sea. Her goodwill
toward the man caused the waters to part, and she crossed over on dry land.
Dry land symbolizes something substantial under your feet, the feet
symbolizing understanding.
Moses stands out as one of the greatest figures in biblical history.
It came to Moses to move from Egypt with his nation. The task before him was
not only the unwillingness of Pharaoh to let go of those whom he had made
into profitable slaves, but also to stimulate to open rebellion this nation which
had lost its initiative under the hardships of its taskmasters.
It required extraordinary genius to meet this condition, which Moses possessed
with self abnegation and the courage of his own convictions. Self abnegation!
He was called the meekest of men. We have often heard the expression, "As
meek as Moses". He was so meek towards the commands of the Lord, that he
became one of the strongest of men.
"The Lord said to Moses, 'Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over
the sea, and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through
the midst of the sea.'"
So, never doubting, he said to the children of Israel, "Go forward." This was a
daring thing to do, to lead a multiple of people into the sea, having perfect
faith they would not drown.
Behold the miracle!
"... the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night,
and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided."
Now remember, this could happen for you this very day. Think of your problem.
Maybe you have lost your initiative from living so long a slave to Pharaoh (your
doubts, fears and discouragements).
Say to yourself, "Go forward."
" ... the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind."
We will think of this strong east wind as a strong affirmation.
Take a vital statement of Truth. For example if your problem is a financial one,
say "My supply comes from God, and big happy financial surprises now come
to me, under grace, in perfect ways." The statement is a good one, for it
contains the element of mystery.
We are told that God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. We
might say in surprising ways. Now that you have made your statement for
supply, you have caused the east wind to blow.
So walk up to your Red Sea of lack or limitation. The way to walk up to your
Red Sea is to do something to show your fearlessness.
I will tell the story of a student who had an invitation to visit friends at a very
fashionable summer resort.
She had been living in the country for a long time, grown heavier, and nothing
fitted her but her girl scout suit. Suddenly, she received the invitation. It
meant evening clothes, slippers and accessories, none of which she had, and
no money to buy them. She came to me. I said, "What is your hunch?"
She replied, "I feel very fearless. I have the hunch to go anyway."
So she squeezed herself into something to travel in and went.
When she arrived at her friend's house she was greeted warmly, but her
hostess said, with some embarrassment, "Maybe what I've done will hurt you,
but there are some evening clothes and slippers I never wear which I have put
in your room. Won't you make use of them?"
My friend assured her she would be delighted - and everything fitted perfectly.
She had, indeed, walked up to her Red Sea and passed over on dry land.
The waters of my Red Sea part,
and I pass over on dry land,
I now go forward into my Promised Land.
Chapter 8
The Watchman at the Gate
"Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the
trumpet." ~ Jeremiah 6:17
We must all have a watchman at the gate of our thoughts. The Watchman at
the Gate is the superconscious mind.
We have the power to choose our thoughts.
Since we have lived in the race thought for thousands of years, it seems
almost impossible to control them. They rush through our minds like
stampeding cattle or sheep.
But a single sheep-dog can control the frightened sheep and guide them into
the sheep pen.
I saw a picture in the news-reels of a shepherd dog controlling the sheep. He
had rounded up all but three. These three resisted and resented. They baahed
and lifted their front feet in protest, but the dog simply sat down in front and
never took his eyes off them. He did not bark or threaten. He just sat and
looked his determination. In a little while the sheep tossed their heads and
went in the pen.
We can learn to control our thoughts in the same way, by gentle determination,
not force.
We take an affirmation and repeat it continually, while our thoughts are on the
rampage.
We cannot always control our thoughts, but we can control our words, and
repetition impresses the subconscious, and we are then master of the
situation.
In the sixth chapter of Jeremiah we read: "I set a watchman over you, saying,
Hearken to the sound of the trumpet."
Your success and happiness in life depend upon the watchman at the gate of
your thoughts, sooner or later, crystallize on the external.
People think by running away from a negative situation, they will be rid of it,
but the same situation confronts them wherever they go.
They will meet the same experiences until they have learned their lessons. This
idea is brought out in the moving picture, "The Wizard of Oz."
The little girl, Dorothy, is very unhappy because the mean woman in the village
wants to take away her dog, Toto.
She goes, in despair, to confide in her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, but they are
too busy to listen, and tell her to "run along."
She says to Toto, "There is somewhere, a wonderful place high above the skies
where everybody is happy and no one is mean." How she would love to be
there!
A Kansas cyclone suddenly comes along, and she and Toto are lifted up, high in
the sky, and land in the country of Oz.
Everything seems very delightful at first, but soon she has the same old
experiences. The mean old woman of the village has turned into a terrible
witch, and is still trying to get Toto from her.
How she wishes she could be back in Kansas.
She is told to find the Wizard of Oz. He is all powerful and will grant her
request.
She starts off to find his palace in the Emerald City.
On the way she meets a scarecrow. He is so unhappy because he hasn't a
brain.
She meets a man made of tin, who is so unhappy because he hasn't a heart.
Then she meets a lion who is so unhappy because he has no courage.
She cheers them up by saying, "We'll all go to the Wizard of Oz and he'll give
what we want" - the scarecrow a brain, the tin man a heart, and the lion
courage.
They encounter terrible experiences, for the bad witch is determined to capture
Dorothy and take away Toto and the ruby slippers which protect her.
At last they reach the Emerald Palace of the Wizard of Oz.
They ask for an audience, but are told no one has ever seen the Wizard of Oz,
who lives mysteriously in the palace.
But through the influence of the good witch of the North, they enter the
palace. There they discover the Wizard is just a fake magician from Dorothy's
home town in Kansas.
They are all in despair because their wishes cannot be granted!
But then the good witch shows them that their wishes are already granted. The
scarecrow has developed a brain by having to decide what to do in the
experiences he has encountered, the tin man finds he has a heart because he
loves Dorothy, and the lion has become courageous because he had to show
courage in his many adventures.
The good witch from the North says to Dorothy, "What have you learned from
your experiences?" and Dorothy replies, "I have learned that my heart's desire
is in my own home and in my own front yard." so the good witch waves her
wand, and Dorothy is at home again.
She wakes up and finds that the scarecrow, the tin man, and the lion are the
men who work on her uncle's farm. They are so glad to have her back. This
story teaches that if you run away your problems will run after you.
Be undisturbed by a situation, and it will fall away of its own weight.
There is an occult law of indifference. "None of these things move me." "None
of these things disturb me" we might say in modern language.
When you can no longer be disturbed, all disturbance will disappear from the
external.
"When your eyes have seen your teachers, your teachers disappear."
"I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet."
A trumpet is a musical instrument, used in olden times, to draw people's
attention to something - to victory, to order.
You will form the habit of giving attention to every thought and word, when
you realize their importance.
The imagination, the scissors of the mind, is constantly cutting out the events
to come into your life.
Many people are cutting out fear-pictures. Seeing things which are not divinely
planned.
With the "single eye," man sees only the Truth. He sees through evil, knowing
that out of it comes good. He transmutes injustice into justice, and disarms his
seeming enemy by sending goodwill.
We read in mythology of the Cyclops, a race of giants, said to have inhabited
Sicily. These giants had only one eye in the middle of the forehead.
The seat of the imaging faculty is situated in the forehead (between the eyes).
So these fabled giants came from this idea.
You are indeed a giant when you have a single eye.
Then every thought will be a constructive thought, and every word, a word of
Power.
Let the third eye be the watchman at the gate.
"If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body is full of light."
With the single eye your body will be transformed into your spiritual body, the
"body electric" made in God's likeness and image (imagination).
By seeing clearly the perfect plan, we could redeem the world, with our inner
eye seeing a world of peace and plenty and goodwill.
"Judge not by appearances, judge righteous judgment."
"Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
anymore."
The occult law of indifference means that you are undisturbed by adverse
appearances. You hold steadily to the constructive thought, which wins out.
Chapter 9
The Way of Abundance
She had changed the quality of her words and thoughts. She had taken God
into her confidence, and into all her affairs. She had many eleventh hour
demonstrations, but her supply always came, for she dug her ditches and gave
thanks without wavering.
Someone called me up recently and said, "I am looking desperately for a
position."
I replied, "Don't look desperately for it, look for it with praise and thanksgiving,
for Jesus Christ, the greatest of metaphysicians, said to pray with praise and
thanksgiving."
Praise and thanksgiving open the gates, for expectancy always wins.
Of course, the law is impersonal, and a dishonest person with rich thoughts will
attract riches - but, "a thing ill-got has ever bad success," as Shakespeare
says. It will be of short duration and will not bring happiness.
We have only to read the papers to see that the way of the transgressor is
hard.
That is the reason it is so necessary to make your demands aright on the
Universal Supply, and ask for what is yours by divine right and under grace in a
perfect way.
Some people attract prosperity, but cannot hold it. Sometimes their heads are
turned, sometimes they lose it through fear and worry.
A friend in one of my question and answer classes told this story.
Some people in his home town, who had always been poor, suddenly struck oil
in their back yard. It brought great riches. The father joined the country club
and went in for golf. He was no longer young - the exercise was too much for
him and he dropped dead on the links.
This filled the whole family with fear. They all decided they might have heart
trouble, so they are now in bed with trained nurses watching every heart beat.
In the race-thought people must worry about something.
They no longer worried about money, so they shifted their worries to health.
The old idea was, "that you can't have everything." If you got one thing, you'd
lose another. People were always saying, "Your luck won't last," "It's too good
to be true."
Jesus Christ said, "In the world (world thought)
there is tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world
(thought)."
In the superconscious, there is a lavish supply for every demand, and your
good is perfect and permanent.
"If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up (in consciousness), thou
shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles."
"Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, the gold of Ophir as the stones of the
brooks."
"Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defense and thou shalt have plenty of silver."
What a picture of opulence! The result of "Returning to the Almighty (in
consciousness)."
With the average person (who has thought in terms of lack for a long time) it
is very difficult to build up a rich consciousness.
I have a student who has attracted great success by making the statement: "I
am the daughter of the King! My rich Father now pours out his abundance
upon me. I am the daughter of the King! Everything makes way for me."
Many people put up with limited conditions because they are too lazy
(mentally), to think themselves out of them.
You must have a great desire for financial freedom, you must feel yourself rich,
you must see yourself rich, you must continually prepare for riches. Become as
a little child and make believe you are rich. You are then impressing the
subconscious with expectancy.
The imagination is man's workshop, the scissors of the mind, where he is
constantly cutting out the events of his life!
The superconscious is the realm of inspiration, revelation, illumination and
intuition.
Intuition is usually known as a hunch. I do not apologize for the word "hunch"
anymore. It is now in Webster's latest dictionary.
I had a hunch to look up "hunch," and there it was.
The superconscious is the realm of perfect ideas. The great genius captures his
thoughts from the superconscious.
"Without the vision (imagination) my people perish."
When people have lost the power to image their good, they "perish" (or go
under).
It is interesting to compare the translation of the French and English Bibles. In
the 21st verse of the 22nd chapter of Job we read: "Acquaint now thyself with
him, and be at peace, thereby good shall come unto thee." In the French Bible
we read: "Attach thyself to God and you will have peace. Thou shalt thus enjoy
happiness."
The 23rd verse: "If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be build up, thou
shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles." In the French translation we
read "Thou shalt be re-established if thou returnest to the Almighty, putting
iniquity far off from your dwellings."
In the 24th verse we read a new and amazing translation. The English Bible
reads, "Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the
stones of the brooks." The French Bible says: "Throw gold into the dust, the
gold of Ophir amongst the pebbles of the torrents, and the Almighty shall be
thy gold, thy silver, thy riches."
This means if people are depending entirely on their visible supply, it is even
better to throw it away and trust absolutely to the Almighty for gold, silver and
riches.
I give an example in the story told me by a friend.
A priest went to visit a nunnery in France, where they fed many children. One
of the nuns, in despair, told the priest they had no food, the children must go
hungry. She said that they had but one piece of silver (about the value of a
quarter of a dollar). They needed food and clothing.
The priest said, "Give me the coin."
She handed it to him and he threw it out the window.
"Now," he said, "rely entirely upon God."
Within a short time friends arrived with plenty of food and gifts of money.
This doesn't mean to throw away what money you have, but don't depend
upon it. Depend upon your invisible supply, the Bank of the Imagination.
Let us now attach ourselves to God and have peace. For He shall be our gold,
our silver and our riches.
The inspiration of the Almighty shall be my defense and I shall have plenty of
silver.
Chapter 10
I Shall Never Want
At first I refused, and then came the hunch that it would be an interesting
experience.
It was in the summer. We got up about four o'clock, my friend, her little
daughter and myself. It was pitch dark, but we sallied forth down the street, to
the entrance of the Park.
Some policemen eyed us curiously, but my friend said to them with dignity,
"We are going to see the sunrise" and it seemed to satisfy them. We walked
through the park to the beautiful rose garden.
A faint pink streak appeared in the East, then suddenly we heard a most
tremendous uproar. We were near the Zoo and all the animals were greeting
the dawn.
The lions and tigers roared, the hyenas laughed, there were shrieks and howls,
every animal had something to say for a new day was at hand.
It was indeed most inspiring. The light slanted through the trees; everything
had an unearthly aspect.
Then, as it grew lighter, our shadows were in front instead of behind us. The
dawn of a new day!
This is the wonderful dawn which comes to each one of us, after some
darkness.
Your dawn of Success, Happiness and Abundance is sure to come.
Every day is important, for we read in the wonderful Sanskrit poem, "Look
well, therefore, to this day, such is the salutation of the dawn."
This day the Lord is your Shepherd! This day, you shall not want, as you and
this great Creative Principle are one and the same.
The 34th Psalm is also a Psalm of security. It starts with a blessing for the
Lord, "I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my
mouth."
"They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." Seeking the Lord
means that man must make the first move. "Draw near to me and I will draw
near to thee, saith the Lord."
You seek the Lord by making your affirmations, expecting and preparing for
your good.
If you ask for success and prepare for failure, you will receive the thing you
have prepared for.
I tell in my book, "The Game of Life and How to Play It," of a man who asked
me to speak the word that all his debts be wiped out.
After the treatment, he said, "Now I'm thinking what I'll say to the people
when I haven't the money to pay them." A treatment won't help you if you
haven't faith in it, for faith and expectancy impresses the subconscious mind
Chapter 11
Look With Wonder
"I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember thy
wonders of old." ~ Psalms 77:11
The words wonder and wonderful are used many times in the Bible. In the
dictionary the word wonder is defined as, "a cause for surprise, astonishment,
a miracle, a marvel."
Ouspensky, in his book, "Tertium Organum," calls the 4th dimensional world,
the "World of the Wondrous." He has figured out mathematically, that there is
a realm where all conditions are perfect. Jesus Christ called it the Kingdom.
We might say, "Seek ye first the world of the wondrous, and all things shall be
added unto you."
It can only be reached through a state of consciousness.
Jesus Christ said, to enter the Kingdom we must become "as a little child."
Children are continually in a state of joy and wonder!
The future holds promises of mysterious good. Anything can happen overnight.
Robert Louis Stevenson, in "A Child's Garden of Verses" says: "The world is so
full of a number of things. I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings."
So let us look with wonder at that which is before us; that statement was given
me a number of years ago, I mention it in my book, "The Game of Life and
How To Play It."
I had missed an opportunity and felt that I should have been more awake to
my good. The next day,
I took the statement early in the morning, "I look with wonder at that which is
before me."
At noon the phone rang, and the proposition was put to me again. This time I
grasped it. I did indeed, look with wonder for I never expected the opportunity
to come to me again.
A friend in one of my meetings said the other day, that this statement had
brought her wonderful results. It fills the consciousness with happy
expectancy.
Children are filled with happy expectancy until grown-up people, and unhappy
experiences bring them out of the world of the wondrous!
Let us look back and remember some of the gloomy ideas which were given
us: "Eat the speckled apples first." "Don't expect too much, then you won't be
disappointed." "You can't have everything in this life." "Childhood is your
happiest time." "No one knows what the future will bring." What a start in life!
ways are ingenious, His methods are sure." A series of unexpected contacts
brought about a situation she had been desiring. She looked with wonder at
the working of the law.
Our demonstrations usually come within a "split second." All is timed with
amazing accuracy in Divine Mind.
My student left the taxi, just as her friend stopped to enter; a second later, she
would have hailed another taxi.
Man's part is to be wide awake to his leads and hunches; for on the magic path
of Intuition is all that he desires or requires.
In Moulton's Modern Reader's Bible, the book of Psalms is recognized as the
perfection of lyric poetry.
"The musical meditation which is the essence of lyrics can find no higher field
than the devout spirit which at once raises itself to the service of God, and
overflows on the various sides of active and contemplative life."
The Psalms are also human documents, and I have selected the 77th Psalm
because it gives the picture of a man in despair, but as he contemplates the
wonders of God, faith and assurance are restored to him.
"I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and He gave
ear unto me.
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord, my soul refused to be comforted.
Will the Lord cast off forever? And will he be favourable no more?
Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender
mercies?
And I said, This is my infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand
of the Most High.
I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.
Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary, who is so great a God as our God!
Thou art the God that doest wonders.
Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people."
This is a picture of what the average Truth student goes through when
confronted with a problem. He is assailed by thoughts of doubt, fear and
despair.
Then some statement of Truth will flash into his consciousness - "God's ways
are ingenious, His methods are sure!" He remembers other difficulties which
have been overcome, his confidence in God returns. He thinks, "what God has
done before, He will do for me and more!"
I was talking to a friend not long ago who said, "I would be pretty dumb if I
didn't believe God could solve my problem. So many times before, wonderful
things have come to me, I know they will come again!"
So the summing up of the 77th Psalm is, "What God has done before, he now
does for me and more!"
It is a good thing to say when you think of your past success, happiness or
wealth. All loss comes from your own vain imaginings, fear of loss crept into
your consciousness, you carried burdens and fought battles, you reasoned
instead of sticking to the magic path of intuition.
But in the twinkling of an eye, all will be restored to you, for as they say in the
East, "What Allah has given, cannot be diminished."
Now to go back to the child's state of consciousness, you should be filled with
wonder, but be careful not to live in your past childhood.
I know people who can only think about their happy childhood days. They
remember what they wore! No skies have since been so blue, or grass so
green. They therefore miss the opportunities of the wonderful now.
I will tell an amusing story of a friend who lived in a town when she was very
young, then moved away to another city. She always looked back to the house
they first lived in, to her it was an enchanted palace, large, spacious and
glamorous.
Many years after, when she had grown up, she had an opportunity of visiting
this house. She was disillusioned, she found it small, stuffy and ugly. Her idea
of beauty had entirely changed, for in the front yard was an iron dog.
If you went back to your past, it would not be the same. So in this friend's
family, they called living in the past, "iron dogging."
Her sister told me a story of some "iron dogging" she had done. When she was
about sixteen, she met abroad, a very dashing and romantic young man, an
artist. This romance didn't last long, but she talked about it a lot to the man
she afterwards married.
Years rolled by, the dashing and romantic young man, had become a well-
known artist and came to this country to have an exhibition of his pictures. My
friend was filled with excitement, and hunted him up to renew their friendship.
She went to his exhibition, and in walked a portly business man, no trace was
left of the dashing romantic youth! When she told her husband, all he said
was, "iron dogging."
Remember, now is the appointed time! Today is the day! And your good can
happen over night.
Look with wonder at that which is before you!
We are filled with divine expectancy, "I will restore to you the years which the
locusts have eaten!"
Now let each one think of the good which seems so difficult to attain. It may
be health, wealth, happiness or perfect self-expression.
Do not think how your good can be accomplished, just give thanks that you
have already received on the invisible plane, "therefore the steps leading up to
it are secured also."
Be wide awake to your intuitive leads, and suddenly, you find yourself in your
Promised Land.
"I look with wonder at that which is before me."
Chapter 12
Catch Up With Your Good
thee, and show thee great and mighty things which though knowest not."
In demonstrating our good, we must look away from adverse appearances,
"Judge not by appearances."
Get some statement which will give you a feeling of assurance, "The long arm
of God reaches out over people and conditions, controlling the situation and
protecting my interests!"
I was asked to speak the word for a man who was to have a business interview
with a seemingly unscrupulous person. I used the statement, and rightness
and justice came out of the situation, at just the exact time I was speaking.
We have all heard the quotation from Proverbs, "Hope deferred maketh the
heart grow sick, but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life."
In desiring sincerely (without anxiety), we are catching up with the thing
desired and the desire becomes crystallized on the external. "I will give to you
the righteous desire of your heart.
Selfish desires, desires which harm others, always return to harm the sender.
The righteous desire might be called, an echo from the Infinite. It is already a
perfect idea in divine mind.
All inventors catch up with the ideas of the articles they invent. I say in my
book, "The Game of Life and How to Play It", the telephone was seeking Bell.
Often two people discover the same inventions at the same time. They have
tuned in with the same idea.
The most important thing in life, is to bring the divine plan to pass.
Just as the picture of the oak is in the acorn, the divine design of your life is in
your superconscious mind, and you must work out the perfect pattern in your
affairs. You will then lead a magic life, for in the divine design, all conditions
are permanently perfect.
People defy the divine design when they are asleep to their good.
Perhaps the woman who liked to lie in bed most of the day and read magazines
should be writing for magazines but her habits of laziness dulled all desire to
go forward.
The fishes who desired wings, were alert and alive, they did not spend their
days on the bed of the ocean, reading "Vogue" and "Harper's Bazaar."
Awake thou that sleepeth and catch up with your good!
"Call on me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and might things,
which thou knowest not."
"I now catch up with my good, for before I called I was answered."
Chapter 13
Rivers in the Desert
"Behold, I will do a new thing: now it shall spring forth; shall ye not
know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the
desert." ~ Isaiah 43:19
In this 43rd chapter of Isaiah, are many wonderful statements, showing the
irresistible power of Supreme Intelligence, coming to man's rescue in times of
trouble. No matter how impossible the situation seems, Infinite Intelligence
knows the way out.
Working with God-Power, man becomes unconditioned and absolute. Let us get
a realization of this hidden power that we can call upon at any moment.
Make your contact with Infinite Intelligence, (the God within) and all
appearance of evil evaporates, for it comes from man's "vain imaginings."
In my question and answer class I would be asked, "How do you make a
conscious contact with this Invincible Power?"
In reply, "By your word." "By your word you are justified."
The Centurion said to Jesus Christ, "Speak the word master and my servant
shall be healed."
"Whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be delivered." Notice the
word, "call"; you are calling on the Lord or Law, when you make an affirmation
of Truth.
As I always say, take a statement which "clicks," that means, gives you a
feeling of security.
People are enslaved by ideas of lack; lack of love, lack of money, lack of
companionship, lack of health, and so on.
They are enslaved by the ideas of interference and incompletion. They are
asleep in the Adamic Dream: Adam (generic man) ate of "Maya the tree of
illusion" and saw two powers, good and evil.
The Christ mission was to wake people up to the Truth of one power, God.
"Awake thou that sleepeth."
If you lack any good thing, you are still asleep to your good.
How do you awake from the Adamic dream of opposites, after having slept
soundly in the race thought for hundreds of years?
Jesus Christ said, "When two of you agree, it shall be done." It is the law of
agreement.
It is almost impossible to see clearly, your good, for yourself: that is where the
healer, practitioner or friend is necessary.
Most successful men say they have succeeded because their wives believed in
them.
I will quote from a current newspaper, giving Walter P. Chrysler's tribute to his
wife, "Nothing," he once said, "has given me more satisfaction in life, than the
way my wife had faith in me from the very first, through all those years."
Chrysler wrote of her, "It seemed to me I could not make anyone understand
that I was ambitious except Della. I could tell her and she would nod. It seems
to me I even dared to tell her that I intended, some day, to be a master
mechanic." She always backed his ambitions.
Talk about your affairs as little as possible, and then only to the ones who will
give you encouragement and inspiration. The world is full of "wet blankets,"
people who will tell you "it can't be done, that you are aiming too high."
As people sit in Truth meetings and services, often a word or an idea will open
a way in the wilderness.
Of course the Bible is speaking of states of consciousness. You are in a
wilderness or desert, when you are out of harmony - when you are angry,
resentful, fearful or undecided. Indecision is the cause of much ill health, being
unable to make up your mind.
One day when I was in a bus, a woman stopped it and asked the conductor its
destination. He told her, but she was undecided. She got half way on, and then
got off, then on again: the conductor turned to her and said, "Lady, make up
your mind!"
So it is with so many people, "Ladies make up your minds!"
The intuitive person is never undecided, he is given his leads and hunches, and
goes boldly ahead, knowing he is on the magic path.
In Truth, we always ask for definite leads just what to do; you will always
receive one if you ask for it. Sometimes it comes as intuition, sometimes from
the external.
One of my students, named Ada, was walking down the street, undecided
whether to go to a certain place or not. She asked for a lead. Two women were
walking in front of her. One turned to the other and said, "Why don't you go
Ada?" The woman's name just happened to be Ada, my friend took it as a
definite lead, and went on to her destination, and the outcome was very
successful.
We really lead magic lives, guided and provided for at every step if we have
ears to hear and eyes that see.
Of course we have left the plane of the intellect and are drawing from the
superconscious, the God within, which says, "This is the way, walk ye in it."
Whatever you should know, will be revealed to you. Whatever you lack, will be
provided! "Thus saith the Lord which maketh a way in the sea and a path in
the mighty waters."
"Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old."
People who live in the past have severed their contact with the wonderful now.
God knows only the now. Now is the appointed time, today is the day.
Many people lead lives of limitation, hoarding and saving, afraid to use what
they have; which brings more lack and more limitation.
I give the example of a woman who lived in a small country town. She could
scarcely see to get about, and had very little money. A kind friend took her to
an oculist, and presented her with glasses, which enabled her to see perfectly.
Sometime later she met her on the street without the glasses. She exclaimed,
"Where are your glasses?"
The woman replied, "Well, you don't expect me to hack 'em out by using them
every day, do you? I only wear them on Sundays."
You must live in the now and be wide awake to your opportunities.
"Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I
will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert."
This message is meant for the individual. Think of your problem and know that
Infinite Intelligence knows the way of fulfillment. I say the way, for before you
called you were answered. The supply always precedes the demand.
God is the Giver and the Gift and now creates His own amazing channels.
When you have asked for the Divine Plan of your life to manifest, you are
protected from getting the things that are not in the Divine Plan.
You may think that all your happiness depends upon obtaining one particular
thing in life; later on, you praise the Lord that you didn't get it.
Sometimes you are tempted to follow the reasoning mind, and argue with your
intuitive leads, suddenly the Hand of Destiny pushes you into your right place,
and under grace, you find yourself back on the magic path again.
You are now wide awake to your good, you have the ears that hear (your
intuitive leads), and the eyes which see the open road of fulfillment.
"The genius within me is released.
I now fulfill my destiny."
Chapter 14
The Inner Meaning of Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs
I have been asked to give a Metaphysical interpretation of Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs, one of Grimm's Fairy Tales.
It is amazing how this picture, a fairy story, swept sophisticated New York, and
the whole country, due to Walt Disney's genius.
This fairy tale was supposed to be for children, but men and women have
packed the theatre. It is because fairy tales come down from old legends of
Persia, India and Egypt, which are founded on Truth.
Snow White, the little Princess, has a cruel stepmother, who is jealous of her.
This cruel stepmother idea appears also in "Cinderella."
Nearly everyone has a cruel step-mother. THE CRUEL STEP-MOTHER IS A
NEGATIVE THOUGHT-FORM YOU HAVE BUILT UP IN THE SUBCONSCIOUS.
Snow White's cruel step-mother is jealous of her and always keeps her in rags
and in the background.
ALL CRUEL THOUGHT FORMS DO THIS.
The cruel step-mother consults her magic mirror every day, saying: "Magic
mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" One day the mirror replies:
"Thou Queen, mayst fair and beauteous be, but Snow White is lovelier far than
thee." This enrages the Queen, so she decides to send Snow White to the
forest to be killed by one of her servants. However, the servant's heart melts
when Snow White begs for her life, so he leaves her in the woods. The woods
are filled with terrifying animals and many pitfalls and dangers. She falls in
terror to the ground, and while there, a most unusual spectacle presents itself.
Scores of the most delightful little animals and birds creep up and surround
her. Rabbits, squirrels, deer, beavers, raccoons, etc. She opens her eyes and
greets them with pleasure; they are so friendly and attractive. She tells her
story and they lead her to a little house which she makes her home. NOW
THESE FRIENDLY BIRDS AND ANIMALS SYMBOLIZE OUR INTUITIVE LEADS OR
HUNCHES, WHICH ARE ALWAYS READY TO "GET YOU OUT OF THE WOODS."
The little house proves to be the home of the Seven Dwarfs. Everything is in
disorder, so Snow White and her animal friends begin to clean the house. The
squirrels dust with their tails, the birds hang things up, using the little deer's
horns for a hat-rack. When the seven dwarfs come home from their work of
digging gold, they discover the change and at last find Snow White asleep on
one of the beds. In the morning she tells her story, remains with them to keep
house and cook their meals, and is very happy. THE SEVEN DWARFS
SYMBOLIZE THE PROTECTIVE FORCES ALL ABOUT US.
In the meantime, the cruel step-mother consults her mirror and it says to her:
"Over the hills in the green wood shade, where the Seven Dwarfs their dwelling
have made, there Snow White is hiding her head, and she, is lovelier far, Oh,
Queen than thee." This infuriates the Queen; so she starts off disguised as an
old hag, with a poisoned apple for Snow White. She finds her in the house of
the Seven Dwarfs and tempts her with the big, red luscious apple. The birds
and animals endeavor to tell her not to touch it. THEY TRY TO GIVE HER THE
HUNCH NOT TO EAT IT. They rush around in dismay, but Snow White can't
resist the apple, she takes one bite and falls, apparently dead. Now all the little
birds and animals rush off to bring the Seven Dwarfs to the rescue; but too
late, Snow White lies lifeless. They all bow their little heads in grief. Then
suddenly the Prince appears, kisses Snow White, and she comes to life. They
are married and live happily ever after. The Queen, the cruel step-mother, is
swept away by a terrific storm, THE OLD THOUGHT-FORM IS DISSOLVED AND
DISSIPATED FOREVER. THE PRINCE SYMBOLIZES THE DIVINE PLAN OF YOUR
LIFE. WHEN IT WAKES YOU UP YOU LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.
This is the fairy story which has enthralled New York and the whole country.
Find out what form of tyranny your cruel stepmother is taking in your
subconscious. It is some negative conviction which works out in all your affairs.
We hear people saying: "My good always comes to me too late." "I've lost so
many opportunities!" We must reverse the thought and say repeatedly: "I am
wide awake to my good, I never miss a trick."
WE MUST DROWN OUT THE DREARY SUGGESTIONS OF THE CRUEL
STEPMOTHER. ETERNAL VIGILANCE IS THE PRICE OF FREEDOM FROM THESE
NEGATIVE THOUGHT-FORMS.
Nothing can hinder, nothing can delay the manifestation of the Divine Plan of
my life.
The Light of Lights streams on my pathway, revealing the Open Road of
Fulfillment!
I hope you enjoyed reading The Secret Door to Success by Florence Scovel Shinn
You may also enjoy her other books The Game of Life and Your Word Is Your
Wand.
For more Free PDF Books visit the Law of Attraction Haven.